MUMBAI POLICE: STILL ON THE RUN
When Param Bir Singh, commandant of the Maharashtra Home Guards, wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 17 in his capacity as the Mumbai police commissioner, alleging that then home minister Anil Deshmukh had given police officers a target of Rs 100 crore to be collected from bars and restaurants every month, little did the police force know that the allegation would open a can of worms. An IPS officer of the 1988 batch, Singh has been in the eye of the storm ever since. His batchmate, Rashmi Shukla, too has come under the scanner for allegedly leaking confidential information.
Now, the two top IPS officers and the state government are locked in a legal battle. First, Singh approached the Bombay High Court on March 31, challenging his March 20 ouster as Mumbai police commissioner. Then, on April 5, the high court, acting on a petition filed by lawyer Jayshree Patil, ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Singh’s allegation against Deshmukh. The latter was forced to resign the next day, in an embarrassment to the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The new home minister, Dilip Walse-Patil, focused his attention on Shukla, currently on central deputation as the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in
Hyderabad. The MVA was upset with Shukla after leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis, on March 23, submitted to the Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla details of calls between several politicians and agents discussing rates for postings of police officers. Minorities minister Nawab Malik alleges Shukla provided the confidential information to Fadnavis in violation of service rules.
The cyber crime police station had filed an FIR on March 26 against unknown people for allegedly leaking the confidential information. Under WalsePatil, the police want to question Shukla. She was summoned to appear on April 28 but refused citing the Covid situation in Mumbai. Then, on May 3, she moved the Bombay High Court, asking that the state police be told not to take coercive action. ‘The approach of the state is to arm-twist the petitioner through a bogus and frivolous case,’ her petition stated.
While Shukla has managed to elude the state police so far, Singh has not been so lucky. He was already in the dock after the Akola police filed an FIR against him on April 28 in connection with an atrocity case filed by retired police officer Bhimrao Ghadge, which was transferred to Thane. During a hearing in the high court on April 29, Singh’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi argued that the state was involved in a witchhunt against his client.
By this time, Sanjay Pandey, the stand-in director general of police, was asked to conduct an inquiry against Singh, based on a letter by suspended inspector Anup Dange, who had on March 22 alleged that Singh was in cahoots with the underworld. Dange had made these allegations in a letter to Sitaram Kunte, the then home secretary and the current chief secretary.
In retaliation, Singh wrote a letter to the CBI on April 19, alleging that Pandey had tried to thwart a preliminary enquiry against Deshmukh. Singh alleged that Pandey had, in a physical meeting with him on April 15, advised him not to fight the system. ‘Pandey had offered to mediate between me and the state government so that the two sides could reach an amicable result,’ Singh wrote in the letter, which was produced before the high court on April 28. It had the intended impact, as Pandey refused to conduct an inquiry against him on May 3, saying it would not be appropriate for him to do so as Singh had levelled allegations against him.
The mud-slinging among highranked officers is likely to affect police morale, especially as they have not had a full-time DGP since Subodh Jaiswal moved on central deputation in February to become chief of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). WalsePatil says appropriate action will be taken against all culprits regardless of designation and influence. Pravin Darekar, leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, accuses the government of petty politics. “It seems to be in a mood for revenge since Deshmukh was forced to step down. It’s a failure of political leadership, not the police force.”
“THE GOVT SEEMS IN A MOOD FOR REVENGE AS DESHMUKH WAS FORCED TO STEP DOWN,” SAYS OPPOSITION MLC PRAVIN DAREKAR